Greed vs Nature
In a continuing story of greed vs nature this time it is the bosses of Ryanair and British Airways who would like to control the way of the world.
A year ago the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland caused travel chaos after erupting for a couple of months and I myself was part of that when my planned trip to Dublin was cancelled due to no flights so I had a lovely holiday in Weymouth instead. This year we see a repeat with the Grimsvotn volcano, but this time Willy Walsh and Michael O'Leary want to fly you through the ash.
Apparently one of the BA planes has flown through the ash cloud and there was no 'visible damage'. That isn't really the point. The point is that the ash is very abrasive and will get into every space. At, say, 36,000 feet the ash will stick to the engine turbines and under those temperatures form into a type of glass, clogging the turbines. This can cause engine failure. If you are lucky then after dropping around 15,000 feet the glass may shatter and the engines may restart like the British Airways Boeing 747 in 1982 that was flying over Indonesia, but not every plane would be that lucky.
The basic problem is that grounding planes and cancelling flights can cost airlines millions in lost earnings. These two airline bosses want to send planes up because they want the money, but at what cost to human life? They are also playing a dangerous game because the aviation authorities are essentially being bad mouthed. Will this mean that the general public will assume that an authority doing its job to protect passengers will be ignored by the public who may insist they fly when they may be at peril.
If Willy Walsh and Michael O'Leary want you to fly, fine. If anything goes wrong then they will be the ones picking up the pieces and having to pay out if the worst should happen. Is the price of life worth it over the money lost?
A year ago the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland caused travel chaos after erupting for a couple of months and I myself was part of that when my planned trip to Dublin was cancelled due to no flights so I had a lovely holiday in Weymouth instead. This year we see a repeat with the Grimsvotn volcano, but this time Willy Walsh and Michael O'Leary want to fly you through the ash.
Apparently one of the BA planes has flown through the ash cloud and there was no 'visible damage'. That isn't really the point. The point is that the ash is very abrasive and will get into every space. At, say, 36,000 feet the ash will stick to the engine turbines and under those temperatures form into a type of glass, clogging the turbines. This can cause engine failure. If you are lucky then after dropping around 15,000 feet the glass may shatter and the engines may restart like the British Airways Boeing 747 in 1982 that was flying over Indonesia, but not every plane would be that lucky.
The basic problem is that grounding planes and cancelling flights can cost airlines millions in lost earnings. These two airline bosses want to send planes up because they want the money, but at what cost to human life? They are also playing a dangerous game because the aviation authorities are essentially being bad mouthed. Will this mean that the general public will assume that an authority doing its job to protect passengers will be ignored by the public who may insist they fly when they may be at peril.
If Willy Walsh and Michael O'Leary want you to fly, fine. If anything goes wrong then they will be the ones picking up the pieces and having to pay out if the worst should happen. Is the price of life worth it over the money lost?
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